The sun., 1887-03-27
THE REALITY OF THE SEA SERPENT.
Mr.. Richard A. Proctor Discusses the
Probability OF lts Existence.

Mr.. Richard A. Proctor Discusses the
Probability OF Eta Existence.
That there may be an actual sea serpent Is
what Mr.. Richard A. Proctor. with his accus-
toned versatility. undertakes to provo in his
article on The Ranlity Of Sea Serpcnts," pub
lished in the April number Of The Forum. Mr..
Proctor states his question thus: Among tho
various accounts Of strange sea monsters. ser-
pentine In appearance. which have been pub
lished at different times, may we regard any as
relating to real sea creatures. as yet not cassi-
fed tpossibly belonging to several classes). or
must we reject all, some rs mere fabrications.
others as resulting from various forms Of op-
tical illusion, and the rest as real observations
Of sea creatures already known to science. but
unfamiliar to the observers, and therefore in
morphosed through the effects Of Imagination
into the sembance of the famed sea serpentY"
Proctor decides that we may regard "a relating
to real creatures, the cases which ne admits
as s s SHss Ss esc Tsh
aesssipton lon may % BE- j lmperieSt He cites IS the the
port t. made S by the Captain q the brissh COY:
sbf%sbs s5p Ddans fhn EalKaFz n Yz called H0r haesty'
the W xsat$sr dsER + an and = eleads !sRs Wlnsa
from the :. W. tho ship heading \. !; by n,
gas By Mr. sa
ship S from ush Setpre the bsam b Thap eircumstance nee
was M Immediately reported @ by him to & the officer
and Mr.. William Barrett, the master, was ut
tention being called to the object. It was dis
@od ah 6sc
quite 50 readilyl with head and shoulders kent
about four feet constantly above the surface Of
mr. q n Nya
our maintopshilyard would show a the water,
ae,r d'eau no portion OF which was, in our per
Issd IN 1epnS nr
our lee quarter that had it been man OF my
acquaintance l should easily have recognized
either in approaching the ship or after it had
passed our wake. deviate In the slightest De.
0% as If hs pacs o 9 hs rem sse 10 wa een
purpose: I'i9s The diamster Of the a serpent was
% head which s was @ undoabtedIy s that Of s snakes
and it was never; M during the twenty minutes It. It.
se snace N 81 the Wafer lis coor
brown. with yellowish white about the throat:
i had no fms tn. something like the name q
% msster ii the boatsWans ms mate nate al and M The man t
above mentioned"
The respectful attention paid to this story,
counts OF seq serpents: one OF them he quotes.
@ T. relates a6 @ bow fhS American brig Daphne, on
psnI With hh1 arasons sn Red.sn'e0' Resd. n'se scr
One. One Of the S, deck guns was Immediately
charged. with spike nails and whatever other
pieces Of iron could be got at the nome t, was
ards ts shp hen n
reared its head in the air and plunged violently
with its body showing that the charge had
tho brute. which was seen foaming and lashing
the water at fearful rate. Upon the brig
esaany esan it. maap p4sp1 pa hSnss 9S
offifteen or sixteen knots an hour.as was judged
from its appearing several times upon tho sur
brute must hnye been nearly 100 feet long, and
his account OF it agrees N every respect with
master mas | Of the DmdaIus." > 'A' ''''' "''' ~ '"'
Mr.. Proctor decides that mono Of tho stories
he has considered can be explained by the
large specimens Of the basking shark, or large
seals, or even ribbon fish. His conclusion is
the S peod a G cand b ex
orders had died out. Changes q habits and Of
ditions under which the remains OF such crea.
lures were preserved; or. indeed alterations Of
change in the habits Of tho various
ably be regarded as af1OrdlnR the true
pearance. We may derive On analogous arEu-
ment from the displacement of the great ma
rine ,saurians by. the cetaceans; Where are the
fossil remains Of the ancestral cetacean. forms
connecting the present cetaceans with the por-
cine land creatures from which they descend
ed? Myriads Of creatures belonging to those
ancestral forms must have existed. yet no
traces Of them remain, though probably the
conditions under which they existed. amphib-
ious as they must long have been, were such as
to give them fair chance of occasional pres
efvntion in mud banks or sand strata. Pos
sibly the same changes which made marine
conditions favorable for the land ancestors Of
the cetaceans may have driven tho plesiosaurs
and ichthyosaurs into deeper, seas. there to
undergo such changes as tho changed environ
ment required. In such cases 1t has frequently
In numbers, while the Individual representa-
tivcs OF the race have developed largely In size.
1t Is not necessary. however, for our faith In
the reality Of tho so-called sea SERPENT that We
. largo enaliosaIr. To find out what the, crea-
ture Is or to what as yet unknown classes
the various creatures which have been called
sea serpents must be assigned, we want much
more evidence than as yet We possess"
HOW DOES TIE PARTRIDGE DRUM?